Seeing Double
by Juiji
Summary: There's a new akuma rampaging throughout the city, and he's...cloning people? But the clones are of opposite gender? The new boy in class is super attractive, but he looks like Marinette? And since when did Paris have two pairs of crime fighting duos? Contains Male!Marinette and Fem!Adrien.
1. Chromozono

Marinette was jauntily skipping across a bridge, as all was right in her world. In one hand she carried a bag filled with the best finds from her local fabric shop. She even got a discount because she was a regular customer! (It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she kept flirting with the love-struck owner's son. Nope. Nothing to do with that at all). In her other hand, she was holding the most delicious chicken sandwich ever (in her opinion) which she was currently munching on. And Adrien just walked past her and said hi to her! And-wait. _Wait what_?

Marinette quickly spun around, face full of chicken sandwich. She was greeted with the warm golden glow of Adrien Agreste's angelic beauty. No seriously, she could hear angels singing in the background. She quickly gulped down her bite and opened her mouth to sputter out a greeting.

"A-Agreste? Good! I-I mean Adrien! Hi!" At this point her throat closed up and refused to allow her to make another sound. Sweet merciful vocal cords.

"Hey Marinette. I guess you didn't hear me calling out to you just now, huh?" Adrien flashed her a megawatt smile.

"It was the singing angels' fault." She muttered.

"What?"

"N-Nothing! So-o, water you doing in this part of town?" She quickly slapped a hand over a mouth, very much prepared to see Adrien's horrified look at her accidental pun.

Instead, a look of shock briefly passed by his face before he burst into laughter. The boy nearly keeled over from laughing so much. Finally, he let out one last laugh before unsteadily straightening up.

"I swear that pun was completely accidental-"

Adrien snorted, cutting her off. "To answer your punderful question (at this point he winked and Marinette's face went scarlet), I just barely escaped Gorill-I mean my bodyguard. I just wanted to walk around town like a normal person." He looked away and sighed, before looking back at her and smiling. "Remind me again why we don't hang out as much? You're so fun to be with."

Marinette flushed red and opened her mouth to answer, but her voice was drowned out by the screaming that came from directly behind her. She shared a panicked look with Adrien, before they shouted, "AKUMA!" in unison.

"I AM CHROMOZONO, AND I WILL-"

She didn't get to hear the rest, because Adrien grabbed her hand and ran towards an alley.

"Stay here, okay? It's safe here." Adrien shoved her into the empty alley, and without another word, turned to run off. Marinette grabbed his hand.

"What about you? Where are you going? It's not safe outside!" She whisper-screamed at him. She realized she wasn't stuttering.

"Uh…t-there's not enough space in the alley! If I hide with you, it'll be too obvious that there are people here! It would be better if we were separated! Bye!" Adrien gave her a sheepish grin and rushed off. What's with his stutter?

"But…" She looked around her at the fairly wide alleyway that could definitely fit more than one person. "Well, he does make it much easier for me."

However, just as she was about to summon Tikki, a little man dressed bizarrely in a pink frilly skintight suit passed by, using his laser gun to randomly shoot screaming civilians. Marinette ducked on instinct as a laser beam came whizzing by her head.

"Whew, that was a close-OOF"

When a stray beam shot her straight in the chest, she stumbled back from the sheer force of it, pin-wheeling her arms and bracing herself for the fall. A moment passed. Marinette slowly cracked open one eye. Strong, blazer covered arms held her under her armpits.

"Uhh, are you alright?" a smooth, deep voice asked her.

"Huh?" Marinette quickly stood up and whipped her head around to look at her savior's face. She was greeted with blue-black hair, wide blue eyes, and pink lips that made up the boy's admittedly handsome face.

"Mari? You okay?"

"How do you know my name? Who are you? I thought I was alone in this alley? Where did you even come from?" Marinette gasped, remembering something. "The akuma's laser beam just hit me! But nothing happened? What's happening? Wha-"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down. Let's do introductions, alright? Hi Marinette, I'm you."

Marinette just raised an eyebrow.

"No I'm serious! When the laser beam hit you, it kinda duplicated you, and I appeared! As…a male version of you."

Marinette's eyebrow rose even higher.

"Please stop doing that. Your eyebrow looks like it's trying to crawl off your face."

Marinette slapped a hand over her forehead and groaned. "Fine! Prove it. Tell me something nobody but I would know."

"Your computer password is adriensabs4life3." The boy said with a cheeky grin.

Marinette's mouth fell open, and her cheeks became furiously red. She never told anybody that! Not even Alya!

"Ohmygosh you really are me." Marinette didn't know what to do. Should she leave him here? Can he help out? Is this a Time breaker kind of situation?

"Nope. I'm not you from the future. I'm just…a male you." The boy regarded her patiently. Oops. Guess she said that part out loud.

"Yeah you kinda did. Now go do your job! Chat's waiting for you."

"How did you?-right. Right. Of course you would know. You're me. Okay then, Tikki! Spots on!"

After her magical spandex formed around her, she pointed to the boy…er…herself. "You. Stay here. We will talk later. Don't eat my sandwich." She lassoed her yo-yo over her head and threw it onto a nearby chimney. "And keep my bag of fabric safe!" She called out as she swung herself away.

"Right…" The boy grumbled, making himself comfortable on the ground. He unwrapped the chicken sandwich and took a big bite. "This is gonna take a while."

* * *

"Where is he, where is he-Aha! There he is!" She jumped towards the fray. Chat Noir was already there, clawing at a tall woman dressed in a navy blue suit. The little man in the frilly pink suit was standing right behind him, grinning evilly as he aimed the laser gun at him.

"Chat, watch out! The little man's right behind you!" Chat rolled out of the way just as the beam shot past him.

"Ladybug! Nice of you to drop in." Chat winked at her. Ladybug was about to reply when an outraged scream tore through their conversation.

"HOW DARE YOU. I AM NOT. A. LITTLE. MAN. I AM A WOMAN." The akuma furiously shouted. She lowered her laser gun to aim at her. "JUST FOR THAT, I'M GOING TO SHOOT YOU! AND THEN I'LL TAKE YOUR MIRACULOUS." The beam grazed her side before Chat jumped in front of her. The beam hit him right where the seam of his suit met his neck, making him groan in pain.

The akuma looked at them in disgust. "Whatever. Come on, Chromo, let's go clone some more people." The man-sorry, woman in the pink suit and the woman in the blue suit walked away.

"No! Chat! Are you okay?" Ladybug fussed over him, her mind whirling. This akuma has something to do with cloning, so where was Chat's double…? And was the tall woman in the navy suit the akuma's own clone? But if the 'little man' was actually a woman, was the 'tall woman' actually a man?

"Yeah…I think I'm fine. It didn't actually hurt that much?" He sheepishly grinned up at her. Ladybug gave him a deadpanned expression before pushing him off her lap. He yowled.

"Ladybug?" A melodic voice rang out. "Ladybug, are you alright?"

Both Ladybug and Chat Noir looked around for the source of the voice. _It must be Chat's double!_ Ladybug thought excitedly. She spotted a girl with blonde hair walking around in a cat suit. _That must be her!_

"We're over here!" Ladybug ran over to the girl. "Hi! Are you Chat's female counterpart?"

The girl slowly blinked at her. "Y-yeah. _Mice_ to meet you." The girl gave her a shy smile before slowly reaching over to Ladybug and draping herself lazily over the heroine's spotted shoulder.

Ladybug blinked, turning to ask Chat what this was all about. "Chat…?" The question died in her throat when she noticed Chat hissing furiously at her…er…himself.

Ladybug facepalmed. Then dragged her hand down her face and sighed. "I'm not even going to ask. Let's move."


	2. Mario? Like the video game character?

It started raining. The three of them combed through the city for an hour, but the two Chromozonos seemed to have hidden themselves away quite well, leaving behind a trail of double the usual amount of confused and wet Parisians.

"Well, it doesn't look like the civilians are in any immediate danger, and our kwamis must be worn out by now. Let's rest and continue searching tomorrow?" Ladybug asked. Normally the rain didn't bother her that much, but today her suit felt oddly tight and heavy. Chat and his female counterpart nodded.

Chat took Ladybug's hand in his and flung a hand dramatically over his face. "My bugaboo might slip on something in this heavy rain, and as much as my heart longs to spend more time with you...you're right. I'll see you tomorrow, my lady." He pressed a kiss into her palm. Ladybug ruffled his drenched locks with a fond smile.

"Silly cat. Alright then. See ya tomorrow, Chat, female Chat. Bug out!" Ladybug swung away.

Female Chat turned towards Chat and groaned, "What are we going to tell Nathalie and Father?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Ladybug was searching for the alley where her male counterpart was (hopefully) still waiting for her. _There he is!_ She thought happily, eager to go home. She de-transformed before she hit the ground and rolled into a crouch right in front of the sleeping boy, thankful for the canopy over him that kept out the rain. To her utmost surprise, two kwami's popped out of her earrings.

"Huh? Tikki? Why are there two of you? I don't recall you getting hit."

The other kwami looked exactly like Tikki, except the eyes. While Tikki had huge pupils, the other kwami only had a tiny dot of a pupil in the center of his dark sclera. Tikki observed the other kwami carefully before breaking into a smile.

"Wow! It really is me! This has never happened before!" Tikki giggled cutely and flew around her male counterpart. "To answer your question, Marinette, the laser beam grazed your suit before Chat was able to block it. I am technically your suit, so the beam hit me instead!"

Tikki's male counterpart tilted his head. "I guess then the suit doubled around Marinette?" The kwami's deep voice surprised them both.

Then they started laughing. "This is perfect! Now the boy can also have a kwami and there can be two ladybugs!"

Marinette smiled fondly at them, then reached over to shake the boy's shoulder. "Hey, wake up." As she studied his familiar face, a realization suddenly struck her. "Oh no, what am I going to tell Mama and Papa?"

"Tell them I'm your boyfriend." A very smug, sleepy voice replied. Marinette slapped his arm.

"Quit joking. That title is reserved for Adrien and Adrien only and you know it!" Marinette sighed. "I guess I'll just tell them the truth. I mean, their reactions certainly wouldn't be bad, would it? Come on now, let's go home."

She reached over to grab the boy's wrist to pull him up. Then she spotted it. A very white, very _empty_ sandwich wrapper was innocently lying on the ground next to the boy.

"Hey."

"Hmm?"

"DID YOU EAT MY SANDWICH?!"

"O-ow! Stop it, you crazy woman! You're ripping my clothes! I didn't-Ouch! Fine, I'm sorr-OW!"

* * *

"Marinette! Welcome home sweetheart, there are dumplings on the ta-" Sabine whirled around. "You're all wet! Did you not have an umbrella? Go upstairs and take a shower first, or else you'll catch a cold."

Male Marinette coughed and Sabine finally realized there was another person beside her daughter. "Oh? Who's this?"

Marinette let loose a nervous giggle, fiddling with her wet hair and breaking out in cold sweat.

"Ehehe funny story actually…I kinda got hit during an akuma fight…this is kinda weird but uhh…here's the male version of me!"

Male Marinette waved. "Hi mom!"

Sabine gaped at her son/daughter, finally noticing how they pretty much looked like twins.

Marinette grinned. "Can you call dad out here for a sec?" she asked.

Sabine quickly composed herself and called out, "T-Tom!"

"Yes, honey?" Tom emerged from the kitchen, his bulky frame lumbering towards them. He noticed the familiar-looking boy next to his daughter. "Hello there, what's your name?"

The boy flashed a bright, toothy smile, and replied, "Marinette!"

Tom paused. "What?"

"My name's Marinette!"

Marinette punched his shoulder, then coughed, "Dad, he's like the male equivalent of me. Basically, I got hit by an akuma whose powers were to give people clones of themselves of the opposite gender." She frowned. "That was a mouthful to say. So now, dad, you have a-"

Male Mari cut in, "You have a son now! Congratulations!" He started dancing, pumping his fist in the air and making his way to the table.

Marinette winced. "The akuma maaay have also made our counterparts act in ways we don't usually don't act in sometimes." The boy continued dancing, now with a dumpling in his mouth.

Marinette gave him an exasperated look, but continued explaining. "I-we, well, **_I_** , decided that you and dad would like to name him. Me. Again. Because right now we-he- ** _I'm_** , just calling him 'boy' and neither of us are okay with it."

Sabine's eyes widened, while Tom looked both elated and shocked beside his tiny wife.

Then Tom squealed, "I've always wanted a son to help me carry loads around the bakery!" He grabbed Male Mari and danced around, while his wife and daughter shot them deadpanned looks.

"As if I don't do that already." Marinette grumbled.

Sabine sighed, but then her lips suddenly curved upwards into a wicked smile. "Well, we've always like the name Mario!"

"MOM!"

"Like the video game character?" Male Mari asked.

"I agree!" Tom's voice floated out from the kitchen.

"DAD!"

Both parents chuckled.

* * *

(They decided to name him Marino for the time being)

* * *

"You do it."

"No, _you_ do it!"

"Ugh! Fine!"

Adrien stepped out and coughed to get Gorilla's attention.

"Err...hi?"

Gorilla turned around, scanned Adrien, and just grunted, already too used to his employer's son disappearing and appearing at odd times. He motioned for Adrien to get into the car.

"Wait. There's been a bit of a situation change here."

Gorilla raised an eyebrow.

"You see, I...I accidentally got hit by the akuma."

Gorilla's eyes widened.

"Oh no, nothing like that. I'm not hurt or anything. I'll explain in detail later, but basically I got cloned and here is female me. Ta-da!" Adrien stepped aside to reveal female him. She waved.

"I named myself Adrianne." She proudly stated.

Gorilla stared blankly at the two of them for a moment, then motioned for both of them to get into the car.

"Thanks Gorilla! I knew you'd understand." Two, equally bright, megawatt smiles were beamed in his direction.

Gorilla just grunted in reply.

* * *

"Run!"

The two teenagers raced across the dark hallway, followed by their respective kwamis.

"Hurry up! I can hear her heels!" Adrianne whisper-screamed at Adrien. Adrenaline pumping in his veins, he couldn't stop the bubble of manic laughter that escaped his throat. This was slightly terrifying, but so fun! Is this what having a sibling is like?

They reached the door and slammed it shut behind them, huffing and puffing. Adrien sprang into action.

"Quickly! We don't have much time! Where do we hide you?" The two giggled and quickly looked for hiding spots around the unnecessarily large room.

"Remind me again why you can't just tell your father about her?" Nicki asked in her southern drawl of somewhat mysterious origins, floating lazily behind the two frenzied teens. Nicki, Plagg's clone, named herself after the bubonic plague. Plagg thought it was hilarious.

"Because he'll ask why I suddenly have a clone of the opposite gender-" Adrien explained as he pulled the top off a wooden storage box.

"-and I'll have to explain to him that it was caused by the akuma-" Adrianne supplied as she tried to fit herself behind the bookshelf on the second floor.

"-and even though I'm not physically or mentally harmed at all he will still think that I was in great danger-" Adrien said as he moved piles of clothing around to create a fort.

"-and then he'll pull me out of school and I'll lose all my friends-" Adrianne called out from the bathtub.

"-and he'll lock me in my room and allow no visitors-"

"-except for the occasional tutor-"

"-and I'll grow-"

"-and die-"

"-AS AN OLD CAT LADY/MAN!" They finished together. They looked at each other and burst out laughing again.

"Hey now, what's wrong about being an old cat lady or a cat man?" Plagg asked indignantly, slightly offended. Neither of them paid him any attention.

"Psst, Adrianne! What about the bed?" All four of them turned and gazed at the gigantic monster of the extra-large king-sized bed.

"Oh yeah! Good idea!"

Adrien started gathering pillows while Adrianne slid under the covers carefully, trying to remain as flat as possible. Plagg grumbled behind them the entire time.

* * *

There it was. A flash of blonde hair rounded the corner and disappeared down the hall just as she walked over.

"Adrien?" Nathalie called out. She shook her head. He had a last minute shoot in an hour, and she had to get him ready. Goodness knows how long the hairdresser will spend arguing about being 'artistic' with his hair. She had to give the kid props for trying though, but he will never escape the schedule. Never. She approached the door of Adrien's room, liking the clicking sounds her heels made as she walked.

"Adrien?" She pushed open the door. Then froze. Her employer's son was surrounded by a ridiculous mountain of pillows, face flushed and filled with glee, eyes shining, hair sticking out in erratic directions. He was currently shushing a girl and trying to stuff her under his covers. When she stepped in, he whirled around with eyes blown wide, face surprisingly guilty. Adrien then gave her a sheepish grin.

"Nathalie! I was just, uh, fixing my blankets! We don't want the bedbugs to bite, do we?" He said as he smushed a particularly large pillow onto the girl's exposed face. The smile that adorned his face showed way more teeth than socially necessary. Nathalie could hear a faint 'ow' come from under the pillow.

"Adrien." She began calmly. She will not freak out. Her employer's son was not a kidnapper. She will not freak out. "Why is there a strange girl underneath your blankets?"

* * *

 **AN: Your reviews** **make me wriggle with happiness :D**


	3. Stop ogling me

"Hey! I just thought of something!" Marino said excitedly.

Both of them were sitting cross-legged on the bed. Marinette had a towel around her head from her quick shower, and was now scrolling through her phone to see if she missed any calls or messages. She wondered if any of her classmates got hit.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Since I'm a beautiful male specimen with the perfect shoulder-to-hip ratio, perfect head-to-body ratio, perfect leg-to-calf ratio-"

Marinette cut him off. "Get to the point."

"Geez, so unappreciative of this perfect body. I just thought that since you don't have male mannequins-" He was cut off again with Marinette's gasp.

"-you can model for me!"

"Yeah! I need some new clothes anyways…"

Marinette quickly flipped to a new page in her sketchbook while Marino took off his shirt. Marinette took out a measuring tape and started taking down Marino's measurements, while Marino helpfully changed his poses every once in a while.

After half an hour, Marinette started taking out test pieces she made from her closet, holding them against Marino's body to see how well they fit on an actual male. Marino offered his own advice, going as so far as to sketch a few things in the sketchbook to make a few adjustments.

They didn't know how long it had been, as they were completely set in 'fashion' mode, not hearing their mother announcing Alya's arrival, and not hearing Alya come up the stairs until it was too late.

"Marinette! I just saw-" Whatever Alya saw had to wait, because the girl in question dropped everything in shock at the sight of seeing her best friend kneeling in front of a very almost naked and very attractive boy in her room, her hands on his hips and thigh.

"Mari! Who-wha-why-" Alya stopped her blubbering, composing herself long enough to shout, "Mari, who is this?! What about Adrien? What's going on?"

It didn't help that the half-naked boy was the one who sauntered over to her, the strategically placed towel drooping lower and lower down his masculine physique as he walked. He grabbed her by the shoulders and leaned in, reassuring, "Shhh, Alya it's okay, it's just me." Then he hugged her. "It's good to see you again". He whispered in her ear.

"W-what?" Alya's face steamed red. Her eyes were glued to his abs (and to the slipping towel) and her brain short-circuited.

Marinette face-palmed for the thousandth time that day.

* * *

"So," Alya sipped her tea, seeming much calmer now. "You were hit by an akuma beam."

"Yes."

Alya was sitting on the pink chaise, while Marinette just sat on the floor, also sipping a cup of tea. Tikki and Tiko (Tikki decided to name him herself) were safely hidden somewhere atop Marinette's bed, asleep. The heavy rain had slowed to a small drizzle and the sun was close to setting outside, casting a rich hazy glow over the two friends.

"And he," Alya waved her cup of tea towards the bathroom, where Marino went to shower, nearly spilling the hot liquid onto Marinette's carpet, "popped out."

"That is correct, yes."

"Fully grown?"

"As old as I am now, I think."

Alya scooted forwards. "So if you learn something new, will he also receive that knowledge?"

Marinette paused. The idea just opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Like more sleep. "I'm not sure. We haven't tried that yet."

"Hmm."

"Anything else?"

"Was he naked?"

"No, Alya. Clothed."

"Oh." A pause. "What a shame."

"Alya!"

"What? He has abs, Marinette. Abs. I don't know about you, but I don't get to see that every day."

"But Alya," Marinette whined. "He's me. He's literally me. You...ogling him is like ogling...me?"

"Yeah, technically. I mean, you're cute, Marinette, but you are neither male, nor do you look like a male. But he does." Alya countered. "Besides, I don't think you have abs." She squinted suspiciously at Marinette's tiny midriff. Marinette eeped and crossed her arms over herself.

"What about Nino?"

"What about Nino?"

Marinette huffed. She was just glad Alya didn't question why Marino had abs.

At this point, the boy in question walked out, a different towel draped across his waist. The golden sunlight glinted off his wet body, highlighting his chiseled figure. He shook his head a few times, spraying droplets in every direction, then raked his fingers through his hair, his eyebrows furrowed from brightness of the sun.

Alya's mouth dropped open. "Hot damn." She whispered.

Marinette groaned. "Please go put some clothes on. Now." She hid her face in her cup, thankful that it was large enough to cover most of it. "This is so embarrassing." She muttered.

"No, no, he can keep them off." Alya took another sip of her tea, keeping her eyes on Marino the entire time. "What a view."

Marino looked quizzically at Alya. "But you're not even facing the window-"

"Sweetie, have you always been this innocent?" Alya directed the question at Marinette, who was still hiding her face in her cup.

"I guess you can say," Alya drained the rest of her cup, swallowed, then flashed a wicked grin, "my thirst is real." She smirked when groans were elicited from the both of them.

* * *

Thanks for reading! As always, reviews are greatly appreciated :D


	4. New Student

"Izzit bad?"

Sabine held up the thermometer. It read 38.5˚C, just a tad bit over the average healthy temperature. She sighed, then reached over to tuck Marinette in. "You've got a slight fever dear, but don't worry. It should be gone in a few days. Rest now. I'll bring up a towel for your forehead and some hot honey-lemon tea later." Marinette made a muffled sound and turned over in bed. Sabine patted her daughter's cheek and got up, immediately swiveling around to point at her temporary son.

"Marino."

"Yes?"

Sabine looked at him seriously. "It's time."

He dropped his apron in shock, looking up at her with wide eyes. "A-are you sure? I-I don't know if I'm ready for this."

Sabine marched purposely over to him. "I know it's not what we planned, but desperate times call for desperate measures."

They stared intensely at each other for a few moments. The silence was broken by Marinette's mumbling.

"Yew two are soooo dwamatic."

The two turned towards her with shining eyes.

"But Marinette!"

"It's time for us to test out-"

"The Akuma-Body-Duplication-Potential-Transferred-Knowledge Theory™!" They shouted together excitedly pumping a fist in the air.

Marinette just groaned.

* * *

Intense, emerald green stared into cold, steely blue. Adrianne narrowed her eyes in intense concentration, lips drawing up into a smirk while Gabriel's left eyebrow twitched upwards. Gabriel's eyes turned red, and then finally, he blinked.

"Haha, yes! Yes, I won! Take that, old man!" Adrianne crowed.

Gabriel chuckled, putting his glasses back on. "Yes, I suppose you did." He looked down at her fondly, ruffling her hair.

Adrien just watched with a dumbfounded expression from the sidelines. "What's... happening..."

* * *

 _A few hours earlier..._

Nathalie dragged the two teens to his father's study when she found out Adrianne was just a clone caused by the akuma. When they stopped outside his door, they let out a shaky breath, held each others hands, and marched in, preparing for the worst. To their surprise, their father's reaction to Adrianne was not one of anger.

"Emilie?" Gabriel gasped, standing up immediately.

The two suddenly realized that Adrianne looked startlingly similar to their late mother. Adrien was too busy hitting himself on the head for not grasping the resemblance earlier to notice Gabriel striding over to Adrianne.

"Emilie? Is that really you?" Gabriel seemed to be too shocked by the sight of his wife's face to notice that Adrianne was more than a head shorter than him.

Adrianne just looked down sadly. "No, Father...I-I'm your daughter."

The words were like a slap to Gabriel's face. "What?" He turned pale and took a step back, finally noticing his son. "Adrien?" Gabriel came back to his senses, straightening up and looking down at them, arranging his face into a stern expression. "Someone please explain what is going on."

Adrien and Adrianne looked at each other. Adrien scratched at the back of his head.

"Well...you'd better sit down for this."

* * *

 _Present_

Nathalie was too busy typing something into her tablet to answer. "Sir, I've just made an appointment with Mr. Damocles. Adrianne, you have an interview scheduled for tomorrow in order for you to become a temporary student at Françoise Dupont High School. Adrien, you will attend school as normal. Hurry up now, school's about to start."

* * *

Marino bounced his way to school, his stomach full of butterflies. He was wearing the clothes he came in, which is very similar to Marinette's usual style, except his pants were burgundy red and he was wearing a white shirt with red piping down the sides. He was so excited to see what his classmates were going to say about his appearance, and he also wanted to see if any them got duplicated too. On the other hand, he was a nervous wreck. If he had to use the bathroom, would he use the female bathroom or the male bathroom? His mind was consumed by such thoughts until he arrived.

It was strange. Usually, when Marinette got to school, she would just greet her fellow classmates and talk to Alya, and would go to class when the bell rang, all without making a fuss.

Today, however, was a different story. When Marino rounded the corner, the first girl who saw him dropped her mouth open, then quickly turned and whispered something to the rest of her friend group. The group exploded into giggles and chatter.

"Oh my gosh, is he new?"

"He's so cute!"

"You mean hot?"

"Shut up!"

"What? He's a total hottie."

This drew the attention of other female friend groups, and this behavior continued until all the girls in the courtyard were pointing and whispering and giggling at Marino. It was all very confusing to him, and he tried his best to ignore them and look for Alya. This has certainly never happened before.

"Hey cutie, where are you from?"

Marino spun to see where the voice was coming from. A few older girls were sitting on the school steps, wearing ripped jeans and heavy eyeliner. One was even dangling a smoking cigarette between her fingers.

"I've never seen you around here before."

They were smiling, but to Marino, they looked like sharks circling their prey. Were the other girls creeping closer to them, or was he just imagining things?

"I, uhh," He felt a tug on the hem of his pants and looked down. A girl looked back up at him and licked her lips. Marino gulped and looked around wildly, searching for a savior. He saw wavy red hair and almost cried out in relief. "I have to go!" He shouted and ran, tripping over numerous schoolbags until he reached his friend.

"Alya!" He sobbed. She jolted, almost dropping her phone but looked up. "Alya! I thought you'd never come!" He embraced the blogger tightly and nearly lifted her off the ground, causing her to laugh and pat his arm lightly.

"What happened to you? And where's Marinette?"

Before he could answer, a fist was swung at his head. He ducked (superhero instincts) and caught the fist in his palm.

Shock briefly passed over Nino's face before anger replaced it. "Who are you? Get away from her!" he demanded, moving protectively in front of Alya. He shot Marino a glare and he knew a silent " _She's mine!_ " followed the end of the previous sentence.

He didn't care.

"Nino! I'm so happy to see you too." He launched himself at the much shorter boy and flopped over him, causing Nino to stumble and look at Marino with a face of utter horror. Alya was beside herself with laughter, barely able to keep the recording phone straight.

"Mind explaining what's going on here?" Nino asked dryly.

"T-take a-HAHA- a good look at-HAHAHA-his f-f-face." Alya managed out, collapsing onto the floor.

Nino just gave her an exasperated look, and pushed Marino's shoulder. "Dude, get off me." Marino stood up at looked at Nino expectantly.

Nino stared.

He stared harder.

He stared some more. Marino smiled back pleasantly and tilted his head, giving off an aura of flowers and rainbows.

He gave up. "Nope, I got nothing. Who is this guy?"

"Nino," Alya gasped from the ground. "T-that's Marinette."

"WHAT?" he screeched.


	5. Tap it

**Hey y'all** **I haven't updated in a while because of school :/ I'll try my best to finish this story though! Think of this as a 2019** **present ;) Happy New Year! As always, reviews are my life. (If you read this comment 'lychee' so I know how many of you actually see these lol)**

* * *

"HAHA-I can't believe you didn't know!" Alya wheezed as she stopped in front of the classroom door.

Nino grumbled and held the door open for the two. "Well, it's not like I was expecting one of my best friends to turn into the opposite gender."

The smell of chalkboards and wood hit Marino like a familiar gust of wind. People in the class were milling around, minding their own business. He scanned the classroom to see if there were any other unfamiliar faces. No one seemed to have noticed his entrance yet, or so he thought.

"Hey there! You new here?" A bright, chipper voice asked. Marino looked down to see a shiny brown head. He groaned internally. _Lila._

"I'm Lila Rossi," she continued. "I moved here not too long ago either because of my father's work. Guess we're both new students here." She smiled and held her perfectly manicured hand.

Marino stared blankly at the hand for a few moments. Then he tentatively reached out and held it loosely. "Yeah...I know..." A pause. "Hi?"

"Aww, you're so cute! You know me? You know my parents? Oh! I can't believe I forgot to ask! What's your name?" Lila grew visibly excited with each passing moment.

Marino hesitated. On one hand, he really did want to patch things up with Lila. On the other...he wasn't so sure if doing so through lying would be much appreciated. Besides, she'd find out soon enough after the Akuma's purification. (also, he _hated_ liars). Marino took a deep breath.

"Lila. Its-it's me. Marinette."

He could almost see the cogs in her brain turning. Lila's eyes darted over his face, her smile becoming wooden. She tilted her head.

"No, you're not."

"Lila-"

"Marino! What are you doing over there? Come greet the rest of your classmates!" Alya's voice rang out to the pair.

"Yeah, I'm coming soon!" He shouted back. "Sorry, Lila, gotta run. Talk to ya later." He said, shooting finger guns and cracking an awkward smile. He turned heel and winced at his own antics. Even as he was walking away, he could still feel two holes burning into the back of his head.

* * *

"Please welcome our new temporary student!" Marino gave the class a small wave from behind Ms. Bustier.

The class clapped politely. Alix smirked and leaned back into her chair. Dang, she's always thought Marinette was cute, but this guy is a whole new level of _hot._ This will be fun.

 _"_ As you might already know, Marino is the male counterpart of Marinette. Since neither Adrien nor Chloe is here, why don't you-"

 _"_ I'm here!" the blonde model burst in, panting. "Sorry for being late."

Ms. Bustier was saying something but Marino couldn't hear anything. He felt like he was drowning. Adrien moved around in slow-mo, a golden light shining from above.

"Damn." he breathed.

"This won't— sorry, what?"

"Daaaaamn." Marino gave a low whistle and a wink. "I'd tap that"

A hush fell over the class, then a flurry of movement began. Hands were exchanging money, hair was pulled, fist pumps were done. Adrien's eyes became as large as saucers, face turning an interesting shade of red. Behind him, Alya looked like she was suffering from an aneurysm from laughing so hard. A blanket of euros covered her head.

"Whaa..?" Adrien creaked out.

Ms. Bustier let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Adrien swore he saw a 5-pound bill disappear into her pocket.

"Now, now, settle down. Class is starting and we wouldn't want to miss out on anything, would we?" she patted her pocket and winked at a grumpy looking Kim.

"As I was saying, Marino, you can just sit in Marinette's regular seat for now. Alya, please stop counting your money. Adrien, stop standing there like a statue and move to your seat." She waited until all eyes were on her.

"Now, let's learn about European history…"

...


	6. Boy's Locker Room

By the time recess rolled around, word had already spread that there was a cute new boy in school.

The boy in question was, of course, Marino.

"Uhh, no, sorry Madeleine, I kinda have plans after school today. Maybe another time?" The girl drooped at his words, but brightened up again at his request and nodded.

As she ran back, he heard her friend group looking at her in awe. "How does he know your name?"

There was a light tap on his shoulder. "H-hey,"

Marino turned. "Hmm?" No one was there. Then he looked down. A cute girl held out a box of pastries to him. Marino was starting to grow fond of his new height.

"T-these are for y-you," she said, looking away, face becoming as red as the cookies she was offering.

"Oh! Are you sure? Thank you so much, Charlene!" She ran away blushing. Marino stared after her with a wry smile. If he remembered correctly, she was the daughter of the owner of his family's rival bakery. How ironic.

Alya watched in amusement as Marino slowly made his way towards her, gently brushing aside waves of excited girls. ' _Like making his way through a sea of rolling, wiggling bunnies_ ' Alya mused.

When he finally reached her, Alya whistled long and low before he could get a word in. "Dang, I always knew you'd be a ladykiller."

Marino groaned. "Alya, please."

"My girl's doing such a fine job of being a ladies man."

"Alya."

"Alright, alright." She plopped down onto a wooden bench and spread out, sunning like a salamander, and Marino followed suit soon after. Digging into his backpack, he pulled out two croissants and handed one to Alya.

"Thanks." She took a large bite, crumbs landing in her hair and on her chin. "Mmm, so good. Jokes aside, what are you going to do during Physical Education?"

"What do you mean?"

"Um, hello? Has becoming male addled your brain? Are you still okay in there?" She reached out to tap his head and he swatted her away.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, except for the fact that you seem perfectly fine about the prospect of seeing Adrien shirtless."

The word echoed several times in his brain. _Shirtless…shirtless…shirtless…_

"Shirtless…" he echoed, face blank. Alya waited. "Shirtless…" he said again.

Alya let out a hearty laugh. "That's my girl!" she said, pounding Marino on the back. "I thought I lost you for a second there. I gotta say, I had my doubts about your thing for Adrien, being male and all, but I guess your love transcends all gender boundaries, eh?"

Marino slowly turned towards Alya, face blank. "I'm going to be changing… _in the boy's locker room?_ "

"Uh, yeah? Trust me, with a bod like that, you wouldn't want to be in the girl's room. Who knows what they'll do to my poor, innocent Mari?" she bemoaned, sweeping her hand onto her forehead.

"No Alya, you misunderstand." Alya paused her dramatics and glanced over at Marino. His eyes had a slightly crazed gleam in them. " _This will be such a great opportunity._ "

Alya blinked. The she silently prayed for small sunshine Adrien, hoping his innocence would still be intact after Marino was done with him.

* * *

This was not such a great opportunity.

It. Stank. So bad.

Though Marino was a guy, he's technically never been inside a boy's locker room before. At least, never when actual people were changing. After all, he _was_ simply a construct of Akuma magic.

The moment he closed the door behind him, he came face-to, er, chest, with a classmate's pecs. With a rather embarrassing _eep_ , he darted away before even glancing at the face of the owner of said pecs.

Fortunately, (or unfortunately, depends on who you're asking), his fleeing positioned him face to face with a shirtless Adrien.

"Oh!" Adrien blurted out suddenly, a bit startled. His cheeks had just the faintest dusting of pink on them. "You're here"

"I am," Marino leered, trapping Adrien by bracing his arm against the locker walls, "and so are you."

Adrien blinked. What? "Uh, yes."

"I feel like I'm watching a really weird animal mating ritual," Nino commented offhandedly from the side. Adrien blustered and was about to make some excuse (for what, he wasn't quite sure of) but Marino cut in smoothly.

"Oh, I can be an animal for you _whenever you'd like, Adrien."_ Marino all but purred, voice dropping an octave.

Adrien gaped and he just stood there, red all over.

Marino leaned forwards, _"I'd like to see just how far down that blush spreads."_ he whispered into Adrien's ear.

Adrien made a high-pitched noise, then grabbed his shirt and probably broke a new personal best for fastest outfit change. "I'm just gonnagonowbye," he babbled, then zoomed out the door.

Nino cracked up beside Marino, "Oh man, this is gonna be good!"

* * *

 **(Author's note)**

Heyyyyyyy

So it's been a while...*smiles sheepishly*

didn't actually work in the country I was in so I had to wait until I left to post the new chapter? (also college is stressful?)

IM SORRYYYYYY

tbh, I was putting it off until I saw all the reviews y'all left and was suddenly SUPER MOTIVATED TO FINISH THIS

im def finishing this fic (even if it takes a thousand years) *ducks flying tomatoes*

love y'all


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